


Kids

by gayskull



Category: Stranger Things (TV 2016)
Genre: Coming of Age, D&D, Dad Hopper, F/M, Fluff, Gen, Idiotic kids, Jancy, Kids, Max and Eleven friendship, Mileven, Mom Steve, Parental Steve, Steve and the kids, Swearing, eleven and hopper, the party
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2017-11-16
Updated: 2018-01-25
Packaged: 2019-02-03 05:27:35
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 5
Words: 11,291
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/12741933
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/gayskull/pseuds/gayskull
Summary: a series of oneshots about the kids doing kid things and just trying to be normal for once"the greatest gift of life is friendship and I have received it"





	1. walkie-talkies and secrets

Party Meeting

Where: El's place

Time: 1:00 pm

How? Harrington will be there

Signed: Mike Will Lucas Dustin

 

Max examined the note for the third time as she waited for Steve to pick her up. The note had been taped to her window the night before, by the boys obviously. But she had not the slightest idea why. Hanging out with the boys had become a regular thing, she'd get up, eat, then skate to the Wheeler's house where the boys usually were, playing D&D or talking about some comic book. Not stuff she was interested in but it was fun, and strangely enough she liked it. But she'd never been invited to a party meeting before, and she'd assumed it would be at the Wheeler's, not Hopper's cabin. But she got ready anyway and waited for Steve to come pick her up.

As she waited she messed around with her new skateboard she'd gotten for Christmas, the back was all white so she could add whatever stickers she wanted. It was the only Christmas present that she actually liked. Her stepfather and Billy got her something too, but it was mostly things they though she would like, nail polish and head bands.

She heard the honk of a horn outside, she raced to get her jacket and was out the door. But not before yelling to Billy over her shoulder.

"I'm leaving!"

Her and Billy never really talked much anymore, he didn't bother her but he wasn't nice to her either. He just drove her to school and watched her when they're parents were out the house. She liked the change, she preferred it that way.

"Come on Red! I don't got all day!" Steve shouted at her as she skated down to his car. She kicked her skateboard up and yanked the passenger seat door open.

"Hey Harrington." She greeted, looking in the back seat expecting the boys to be there.

"They're not here, I've got specific orders, to bring you to Hop's cabin and pick you guys up at six, little shitheads, ordering me around like I'm a damn chauffeur."

Max snorted. "You love us Steve, don't act like you don't." She flipped through his cassettes trying to find one to put on. But he quickly swiped them away from her.

"No, I've also ready got one on, appreciate it, twerp."

Max rolled her eyes and looked out the window. "So they tell you what this meeting's about, or am I in the dark."

"I know what's going on but I've been told not to tell you anything."

"And you care why?"

"I'm a man of my word, Maxine."

Max shoved his arm and he pretended to swerve off the road. Max yelped and Steve howled with laughter  
____

Steve stopped at the dead end of the dirt road and told Max which directions too take. She'd only walked to the cabin once, two weeks ago the night of the snow ball when the party came to hangout with El afterward.

"Here we are kid, you sure you don't want me to walk you?" Steve asked.

Max shook her head, opening the passenger seat door. "Bye, see you at 6."

She began to walk down the path to El's cabin when she heard Steve call back to her. "Wait, you got it right?"

Max groaned. "Yes Steve, I never leave it at home."

Steve nodded, chewing on his lip with a far away look on his face. "Alright, careful Red." Max watched Steve pull out of the dirt road and out of sight. She sighed and continued into the trees. She put her hand in her pocket to double check and make sure it really was there. She felt the cool metal on her hand and took it out of her pocket. A pocket knife. Steve had gotten all the kids, including El, a pocket knife from his new job at a hunting store in town. He said it was important for all them to have one, just in case.  
____

Approaching the cabin she stepped over the trip wire, making her way into the porch and did the secret knock.

twice

once

three times

She heard a series of clicks and the door open just the slightest. The scene she walked in on was a weird one. They were all sitting on the floor surrounding the coffee table, with El on one side and the boys on the other. In the middle of the table was a small bowl and a single candle.

Max's eyebrows knitted together in a confused expression. "What the fuck..."

"Come sit Max." Dustin suggested.

She awkwardly made her way over to seat next to El.

"Do you know what's going on?" She whispered to El.

El shook her head. "No." She said softly.

"We can tell you that." Mike answered. "We, as the founders of the party, want to officially welcome both Eleven and Max into our party."

Max shared a look of confusion with Eleven. "I thought we were already in." Max said to the boys.

"Well," Dustin said uneasy. "You technically are but we need to make you guys offical."

"Offical?" El questioned.

"Yeah offical," Mike said. "It's like making sure something's certain, and without a doubt, sort of like a promise."

El nodded, looking at Max then the guys. "We are...offical?"

"Almost." Will said. "We just need something from you guys."

Max gave the boys a weird look. "I'm not paying to be in the party."

"No no no, none of that." Will assured her. "We just want a secret."

Max groaned. She'd joked about how the boys are always pent up in Mike's basement, sharing secrets and giggling like little girls. But she didn't think it would actually happen.

"Look, I know it's lame, but its what we did when Dustin first came here in the fourth grade." Mike shared. "It doesn't have to be a big one, something small, and we all have to give one." He said, giving the guys a pointed look.

"I think we should go in alphabetical order," Will declared. "So it could be fair."

"No way Byers." Dustin exclaimed. "Then I have to go first."

It took a little bit of arguing and some punking around to get the boys to actually agree to the alphabetical order thing. Dustin grudgingly agreed and began tapping his chin as if thinking for a secret to share.

Finally he took a deep breath. "Okay, I got one, I got one." They all waited in anticipation as Dustin worked up the nerve to tell them his secret.

"Sometimes I go to the arcade without you guys and play under a secret name."

The guys started to complain and throw potato chips at him.

"We're supposed to be a united force!" Mike said appalled.

"Yeah man, that's a pretty shit thing to do." Lucas agreed, Will nodded in agreement.

Max snorted. "Doesn't matter, I'll always be number one."

"Not when you're apart of the party." Will said.

"Yeah, your score is our score."

"Or so we thought. " Lucas said throwing Dustin's dirty look.

Dustin groaned and buried his head in his hands in shame. "Whatever it's El's turn now."

Everyone turned towards El and Max was sure they were all thinking the same thing. What secrets could she have, she was stuck in the lab her whole life.

El chewed on her lip, seemingly thinking of a secret to tell. Just as Max was about to tell her it was okay if she didn't have one to tell she began to talk.

"I drank beer once."

Everybody looked at her in shock.

"When?"

"How?"

"Did it taste good?"

El looked down at her shoes as she brought her legs up to her chest and rested her head on them.

"I thought it was juice."

Everybody was suddenly laughing at El's misinterpretation of beer. Despite the circumstances, it actually was pretty funny.

"How'd it taste?" Dustin asked again.

El crinkled her nose in distaste. "Gross."

"Alright alright everybody, it's Lucas' turn." Max shouted. Although sharing secrets was lame, she had to admit it was pretty fun to have dirt on her friends.

Everybody's attention was now turned towards Lucas who looked like he was about to have a heart attack.

"Alright, what comes in this room never goes out, okay." He said cautiously. Everybody agreed impatiently.

"Okay, I saw the inside of a playboy magazine."

The boys looked shocked to say the least, Max crinkled her nose and reached across the table to smack Lucas' shoulder. "Gross, Stalker."

"How did you get your hands on one?" Dustin asked.

"I found it in a box in my basement from my dad's old college days." Lucas explained.

"What's a play boy?" El asked, carefully.

All if the boys looked at her in surprise, and since it seemed like none of them were gonna answer her Max did.

"It's like a book with pictures of half naked girls in it."

Eleven looked disgusted. "Why?"

Max shrugged. "Honestly, I don't know."

"I know why," Mike said mischievously. "Look at it often, huh Lucas?"

Max eventually found herself laughing along with the boys and even El, though she probably had no idea what they were laughing about.

"No!" Lucas sneered at them, annoyed. "He got rid of it anyway."

"How do you know?" Eleven asked out of pure curiosity.

"Yeah how do you know." Will teased.

"Probably went back to look for it." Max offered.

They erupted in giggles once again. Lucas looked embarrassed and mumbled about how he knew he should've never told them.

"Whatever," Lucas broke out their laughter. "Its Max's turn anyway."

They turned toward Max still hungover from their laughing fit as they tries to keep the smile off their faces.

Max tried to think of a good secret to tell them. See had tons if them much to her dismay, she really had no friends she trust enough to tell her secrets to back in California so she had quite a lot of them. She still doesn't know why she trust these idiots so much. But she could sense there loyalty from a mile away and she was just as loyal to these people as they are to her.

She finally thought of secret she could tell them and took a deep breath so it seemed like it was a big deal.

"I used to be in a gang back in California."

The boys gave each other uneasy looks.

"What kind of gang?" Dustin asked with strange look on his face.

Max shrugged and thought back to the seventh grade with the small group of rugrat girls that she absolutely couldn't stand. "We just did normal stuff, hung out on a certain rock near the beach, stole stuff off people's lawns, took joyrides, it was kind of lame actually."

"Is that where you learned to drive?" Dustin questioned.

"Drive is an understatement, she almost killed, like, five times!" Mike exclaimed.

"Oh please," Lucas broke in. "We almost killed ourselves more then five times in these last two years."

Everybody put in words of agreement on Lucas' claim, even Elven nodded solemnly in agreement.

"Enough of talking how much we died," Will demanded. "Its Mike's turn anyway."

It didn't take Mike long to find a secret, as a matter of fact it seemed he already had one prepared. With a rolled of his eyes and a sigh he began. "You know how we all agreed to actually try to play softball in gym for the first quarter, before Max got here?"

The boys shared looks and nodded.

"And how I sprained my wrist so I couldn't play, I even had a note."

The boys with less ease the time, nodded.

"Well the truth is, I faked the sprained wrist and forged my mom's signature so I wouldn't have to play for the week."

The boys practically threw a riot when they heard that. They shouted insults at him and smacked him around a bit.

"Traitor!" Dustin shouted as he hit him with a pillow. "We were supposed to be a team!"

Mike managed to snatch the pillow away from Dustin and began hitting him with it. "You're one to talk, Mr different arcade name!"

The boys argued as Dustin tried to take the pillow back from Mike. Suddenly the pillow was pulled from Mike's grasp and was levitated back on the couch.

"Stop." El said sternly. "Will's turn."

Max stifled a snort. El admired Will, so much that she wondered if Mike was ever jealous. Max knew Eleven could get jealous. A little while before the snow ball she managed to talk to her and found out she was in the gym the day Max was trying to convince Mike to let her be the zoomer (which wasn't an actually thing and apparently she absolutely could _not_ be a zoomer if she wanted to be in the party)

Of course El demanded Max never tell anyone she was at the school that day, that was the day she'd learned what a secret was.

The boys stopped arguing and mumbled out sorry to El as they turned their attention towards Will.

Will had to think for quite a bit before finding one to tell. Will wasn't one to keep a secret, Max knew, so it was no wonder he took so long to think of one.

"I...well, I skipped school once."

The boys didn't look shock just confused, and so was Max. What reason would Will have to skip school?

"Last year, before, you know, I went missing, I was reading this series of old comics Jonathan has, and I wanted to stay home to finish them so when my mom left for work I just stayed in Castle Byers and read them all."

Max couldn't keep herself from laughing. "That is the nerdiest shit you've ever done, and you've done a lot of nerdy shit."

Will and the boys laughed along with her, El smiled at them before interrupting. "The bowl?"

"Oh yeah!" Dustin exclaimed. "Our initial idea was to become blood brothers, but we though combining our spit into a small bowl would do the trick instead."

Although it was kind of gross they passed the small glass bowl around and each took turns spitting in it.

"Okay, now the offical ceremony is complete, you may receive your ceremonial gifts." Mike said, reaching to his side to pull out a gift bag.

Max reached for the bag, putting it in between her and El. El reached in and pulled out one walkie-talkie, Max then pulled out another.

"We don't know if you guys are in range but, its still important for all members of the party to have one." Mike claimed.

"Yeah, without these son of a bitches, I'm pretty sure we wouldn't be alive right now."

"Thanks." Eleven said softly.

Max nodded. "Yeah, it's pretty sick."

Lucas nodded. "Yeah, totally."

"Yeah it's totally sick." Dustin agreed.

Max rolled her eyes as El giggles at their fanatics.

"Hey since you guys are offical party members I thought we could teach you how to play D&D, so I brought some stuff." Mike said, emptying out his backpack with books full of instructions.

"We can make you guys characters too!" Will offered.

"El could be a mage!"

"Yeah she'd be badass!"

Max watched intently as the boys opened books and began to explain to them how the game works. Max couldn't help but think of what such nerds they were, but if she was apart of the party so was she.

"Max could be a rouge or something!"

"Yeah since a zoomer doesn't fucking exist."

She threw a pillow at Mike and laughed as it bounced off his face.

But she's gotten be honest with herself, she wouldn't have it any other way.


	2. birthday and buttercream kisses

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> the party attempts to make a cake for a members birthday

The boys and Max have been teaching El for weeks now, about math, and science, and history. Dustin began to wonder how she keeps up with all of it. They were all assigned a subject to teach her in. Everybody agreed that Mike should teach her math, since it was a hard subject, and she likes Mike best. Dustin got science, well, he actually called science but it had been fair, no one got dibs on it yet. Lucas taught history, which was actually one of his strong suits, it's always been weird but he can name all the presidents, past to recent. Will got English, it was the easiest to teach. She already knew how to read most words, all he really did was teach her definitions and correct spelling. Max really didn't teach El a lot, there wasn't any subjects left and they hadn't pegged Max for the teaching type. 

It was really fun though, they took extra sheets off the teachers desks, and smuggled textbooks out the class rooms to give to El. She had a real urge to learn, everything, and not just the school stuff. 

"You want to learn to cook?" Mike asked. 

"Yes," El said. "Hopper can't."

"I can bring you a few of my mom's cook books." Lucas offered. Mike agreed, promising he would too bring some. 

"My mom doesn't have any cook books but she does have a lot of baking books." Dustin offered. "You know, cookies, and cakes and shit."

El seemed happy with the few books she'd received through out the next few days. Dustin got really good with hiding books now from all the textbooks he'd taken from Mr Clarke. He managed to get two of his mom's cook books off the shelf and into his bag just before going to see El. 

He actually had no idea if she'd actually tried any of the recipes in the books him and the boys gave her, he noted to ask her if she needed help at any point during the future.  
____

The future turned out to be more earlier then usual. Apparently El had learned Will's birthday was in a few days and demand they make him a cake. But she wanted it to be a surprise, they all agreed of course, they wanted to give Will a good fourteenth birthday. 

Once when Will had a dentist appointment to go to they all met at El's cabin to discuss the plan. 

"We have to get him away from us for a few hours though." Max reminded everyone. 

"Yeah, maybe we can ask Jonathan to take him out some place for bit, it doesn't take long to bake a cake." Mike suggested. 

"From scratch." Eleven reminded him. 

"Yeah, still it shouldn't take to long."

They weren't going to make it that day, but they did take a look through the cook books and decided on what to make. 

"Will likes chocolate cake best." Lucas said. 

"With buttercream frosting." 

"Yeah," Dustin exaggerated. "That son of a bitch loves his buttercream frosting."

They went back to looking through the books, they had found one recipe they all liked, but it had to many steps and ingredients that probably couldn't be found in Hawkins. Dustin suggested one but found out half of it was written in French, his mom must know a little because she'd made this for him many times before, and it was great. But unfortunately they couldn't make it, unless he asked his mom for help, and he wanted the party to do this on their own. It was about Will's birthday, but it was also partially about teaching Eleven how to properly bake. 

"What about this one?" Max asked. "Double chocolate Hershey's cake."

"What do we need for it?"

"Butter, milk, eggs, nothing much, it's all easily accessible." She assured them. 

They read through the recipe and took the liberty of assigning Dustin to get a few of the ingredients.

"Cocoa powder, flour, and baking soda, your mom has to have some of that shit." Lucas said pointingly to Dustin.

Dustin agreed, and they left the cabin that day with an assigned list of ingredients for Will's cake.  
____

It was the day of Will's birthday before they knew it. Joyce had decided to throw a small party for Will, Hopper even decided to let El out the cabin for a few hours to attend it. 

So the party met at the Byers house before the Byers left to get Will a birthday present. This year they decided to get Will another lizard since his other one escaped the tank while he was being fed. Joyce left the house in the care of the party, Nancy and Steve, who despite the awkwardness would be setting up the decorations while they used the Byers kitchen to make the cake. 

The kitchen was littered with ingredients, of which Max moved aside so she could sit on the counter, and opened the cook book. 

"Okay, first we need a large mixing bowl." She ordered. "Go big or go home boys, what'd we got?"

Dustin grabbed a large bowl from the cupboards and flipped it on the table.

"Whats next Max?" Lucas nagged.

"Thats Chef Max to you," she teased. "Okay El, cut two-thirds of the butter and put it in the bowl."

"Two-thirds?" 

"Yeah, like a fraction."

"The hell is a fraction?"

The boys looked at El in shock. It was the first time Dustin ever heard her cuss, it made him laugh. 

"Whatever, Mike will explained it later during his math class." She assured her. "One you guys show her."

Mike, as always, did the honors of showing El how to cut the butter. She then plopped it in the bowl and asked Max what was next.

"Okay, grab the measuring cups and put sugar in one, up to two-thirds too." 

The sugar was measured, with some minor inconveniences due to Lucas' antics of jokily snorting the sugar and having some nasal pain. They were told to beat the sugar and butter together until it was fluffy, but El misunderstood the meaning of what Max told her.

"You want me to...hit it?"

"No, it means to stir it, with a whisk, that thing in Dustin's hand." Mike explained. 

El understood and was put with the job of fluffing the butter and sugar together. 

"Now, add three eggs, one at a time, if you put it in all at one it'll be ruined!" Max warned.

"Alright here Eleven, catch." Dustin didn't notice his mistake before it was to late, once the egg was half way across the room, then hit El in face full force. 

She gasped and dropped the mixture on to the table I'm front of her. Everybody gaped at Dustin. Then they looked at El wondering what she was going to do next. 

"Listen, I'm sorry El, I didn't mean to I just-" He noticed all the guys looking above his head, he looked up and saw a levitating egg above his curls. "Holy shit." He murmured. 

He felt the egg shell crack on his head and felt the liquid steep into his scalp. "Ugh, gross." He groaned as he swept it off his hair on to the Byers kitchen floor. 

He made his way to the bathroom to rinsed the egg yolk out his hair, he heard the faucet turn on in the kitchen and he knew El was washing the yolk off her face as well. 

By the time he got back to the kitchen they already had all the eggs into the mixing bowl. 

"Okay now, add the flour, the cocoa, the baking soda and the salt we put into the measuring cups, into a separate bowl with milk and stir."

This time it Mike perched on the counter with El reading off the directions with her. Dustin joined Max and Lucas in pouring the stuff into the milk. 

"Mix both bowls together." El said having snatched the book anyway from Mike. 

The successfully poured the milk mixture with the sugar and butter without any spills. To which Lucas claimed it was worldwide news and a major success on their part.

"Then place mixture into a buttered pan." Mike said reading over El's shoulder. "And place in oven." 

Dustin raced over to open the oven for Max before Lucas did. He knew they were technically together after the snowball (though they wouldn't admit it) but it didn't hurt to try. Lucas gave him a glare as Max thanked him. 

"Okay, frosting, we need to melt it." Max demanded, she'd pretty much taken over as the head baker so they all rushed to look for the jar. 

"Found it!" El exclaimed. 

Max went to were El was sitting on the counter and pushed Mike off to sit next to her. The boys were all pleased on how well they got along despite Eleven dissing Max's offered handshake. Max cracked open the jar and began to apply some to her lips, Eleven followed suit and soon enough the girls were prancing around the kitchen teasing the guys asking if they wanted kisses. El didn't ask Mike though, she just planted a kiss on his cheek. Dustin and Lucas smirked as Mike's face flushed pink, but he didn't make a move to wipe the frosting kiss off. Once the girls licked the frosting off thier lips, they all sat around discussing the next d&d campaign, they wanted to start small since it would be the girls first time playing. 

Nancy and Steve stopped by to check out how the cake was going.

"Smells good guys." Nancy complimented. 

"Yeah, but all you little shitheads better do some of these dishes." Steve scolded. 

Nancy and the kids laughed at Steve's motherly tone and agreed to do the dishes, he just scowled and claimed he was serious. 

The teens stayed at the table and talked with the kids some, checking the cake every while, till the bell rang. 

"Hell yeah!" Max yelled. "Our masterpiece is complete."

The kids rushed to put on oven mits but El beat them all when it made its way on to the table itself. 

They rushed to the table to see how to turned out. 

"It looks alright." Lucas said. "But it'll look better once we put the frosting on it." 

"Yeah, Harrington, pass the frosting." 

Steve tossed the frosting at Max, since he knew the boys wouldn't have caught it. She popped it open for the second time and called for a spatula clapping her hands. 

Lucas retrieved it for her. She took it dramatically and scooped half the jar on to the cake. She tried to spread it evenly but failed. 

"Here let me do it." Dustin pushed Max aside and began to every distribute the frosting along the cake. 

"Like mother like son I suppose." Mike claimed thoughtfuly. The guys snickered, Dustin muttered at them to shut up as he finished up with the frosting. 

"Happy birthday." El spoke, pointing at the cake. "On the cake."

"That's a great idea El!" Nancy encouraged. "Someone get me food coloring and a zip lock bag."

They managed to find food coloring in Will's room, with all his crayons. Steve gave Nancy the box of zip lock bags and she began to spoon bits of the frosting into one of them. 

"What's Will's favourite color?" Nancy questioned. 

This sent all the guys into a frenzy, Will was never really one to have a favorite color, he'd change it very often. 

"Its blue this time, right?" 

"No it's purple!" Dustin disagreed with Mike.

"He's been wearing a lot of orange." Max noted. 

"There's no orange food coloring!" Lucas argued. 

"Green" El said. "He said green was awesome," she explained. "That's going to be the color of his lizard." 

They all agreed on green so Nancy added drop after drop till it as a bright green, and stirred it..

Then she bit the end of the zip lock bag and began to write on the cake. It was very neat, she had great penmanship, but Dustin doesn't know how good you can be with a plastic bag. 

"Happy birthday Will." El read out. 

"It looks awesome, Nanc." Steve said. Nancy agreed. 

"Yeah, it does."

"Well, way to toot your own horn." Mike scoffed. 

She rolled her eyes and stuck the cake in the fridge. "Whatever, they'll be coming home soon, so remember hide and surprise."

Mike scowled at her. "Yeah, yeah, I know."

They waiting in the living room for the Byers to arrive. The boys and girls all peered out the window waiting for the car to pull in. Twice, accidentally, Dustin called a false alarm when cars drove by. 

"Hey guys there here!"

"Dustin I swear-" Steve started.

"No, there really here, getting out the car now, hide!"

Everybody scrambled looking for places to hide. Dustin hid near the door at the end of the couch. He heard them speak as they approached the door. 

"So what are you gonna name him?" He heard Ms Byers ask. 

"I don't know, maybe I'll ask Dustin! He knows lots about reptiles, and lizards."

He felt strangely honored that Will would ask his opinion on his lizards name, but he was shook out of when he heard the keys jiggle in the door and the sound of it open. 

"Yeah, that'll be nice-"

"Surprise!"

The look on Will's face was genuinely happy once the look of surprise went away. It made Dustin feel happy, it was such a rare thing to see his friend genuinely happy anymore and he was going to cherish it. 

"Happy birthday Will." El said stepping up to hug him. Will returned the hug and smiled at the rest of his friends. 

"Thanks guys!" He looked around the living room at all the people here, but his eyes landed on Mike with curiosity. "Mike, what's that on your cheek?"  
____

They had some fun, making Will's new lizard latch on to curtain and climb up everyone's arm, El's reaction to the lizard was great. She smiled, gingerly taking it from Will's hand and was taken aback when it scurried up her arm, resting in her shoulder. 

They discussed what to name him. Mostly Dustin and Will. The winning options were either Reese or Scatha. 

After messing around a bit, making Nancy hold the lizard, and attempts to put it in Steve's hair, Ms Byers called that it was time for cake. 

They all rushed to the dining room and crowded around the cake with a lit 1 and 4 on top. 

"Woah, did you guys make this?" Will asked. They all confirmed in a chorus of 'yeahs'. 

"From scratch." El proudly. "I learned." Will smiled and turned his attention back to his cake.

They sang happy birthday, which they taught El how to sing prior to Will's birthday, and watched Will blow out the candles. The sound of Jonathan's camera when off as Will blew them both out. Everybody clapped, while Ms Byers cut the cake they all hankered on what Will wished for. 

"A pony." He teased. "For my lizard to turn into a dragon, and lipstick." They all pushed him around, calling him lame, and just having a good time. It was great to be back to their old roots, well almost, aside from two new additions. But it as great, and Dustin decided he preferred it that way. 

"Oh yeah, we got you a few things, Nancy and Steve too." Mike said. 

Will's eyed widened. "You didn't have too." He said quickly. 

"Well we wanted to." Lucas stated poking him in the chest. "So deal with it Byers."

Will smiled as they brought out a few gift bags. Marked with labels. One said party, one had down three letters, N, J, and S, and the last had Mom and Hop written on the front. 

"They're all pretty small, we'll get you something better next year." Dustin said. 

Will claimed that he didn't care, and opened the teens bag first. 

They knew there was a few items inside, but he pulled out a small square box, a crayon box. 

"Really?" He asked excitedly. He flipped the box over and examined the rest of it it. On the back was a big S in bright red. "Thanks Steve, this is so cool." 

Steve smiled and reached out to ruffled Will's hair. "Happy birthday, Mini Byers."

"What's so specials about them?" Max asked snatching the box out of Will's hand. 

"Well instead of just wax like regular crayons, they have different material mixed in with the wax to make it hard, so it's easier to draw with." Will explained. "I've wanted these forever."

He also pulled out a new sketch book from the exact same owner as the last gift. Will only ever had a handful of sketchbooks his whole life, usually he just drew on notebook paper, so a sketchbook was definitely on his list of much need things. 

He reached in again and pulled out something at random. In his hand he had a pack of big stickers of stars, and spaceships to stick to his wall. He turned to the back to see a big N over the 'glows in the dark' label. 

"I hope it's okay, I didn't know what you liked." Nancy admitted. 

"No, it's cool, I love space." Will assured her. "Thanks Nancy."

She smiled and snuggled into Jonathan's side. Dustin saw Steve looking at them, with an expression of longing. He decided to talk to him about it later. 

Next he pulled out a cassette tape. A mix tape. Will had hundreds of those, but Dustin knew he's never got tired of getting more. 

"There's some new stuff on there, Nancy helped a little so sorry if some of the song choices are a little iffy." Johnathan teased. Nancy elbowed him in the side as he laughed. 

The bag contained one more item so Will pulled it out and gaped when he saw it. 

"A walkman?" He cried out. 

"Yeah since you're always borrowing mine." Will got up and hugged Jonathan. "Happy birthday, freak."

Will laughed and went back on the opposite couch with his friends. When he grabbed the one from his mom snd the chief the kids groaned in complaint. 

"Best for last." Will reminded them. They were all happy with his respond, quieting down so he could open his present. 

"This one's a little heavy." He noticed. He first reached for the bigger one, which he though was the heavy one. 

"Cool, check it out guys, Ghostbusters on VHS!" They all lunged for it at the same time knocking it out of Will's hand. 

"Be careful boys!" Ms Byers reminded them. 

"We are so watching that today." Mike said. "Hopefully we'll have a few hours before El has to go home so she can watch with us." 

They all agreed, and began talking to El all about Ghostbusters. They watched Will pulled out a small long cylinder. 

"No way." He whispered. 

"What?"

"Is it cool?"

"Did the chief get it right?"

Max took the roll out of his hand and gaped. 

"Fourty quarters!" She shouted. 

"What?" All the boys asked simultaneously. 

"That's like ten dollars worth of arcade money." Dustin said dumbfounded. 

"Chief must get payed good." Lucas called out. 

Joyce shook her head laughing. She had told him he enjoyed going to the arcade, and about a thousand other things, money was easier she supposed. 

"Ours." El reminded him. "Best for last."

They all momentarily forget about the ten dollars and focused on Will's gift. 

"We didn't spend ten dollars in your gift, but it should be good anyway." Max declared. 

Will smiled and grabbed his last bag. He couldn't wait to see what his friends had gotten him. He reached in and felt a hunk of plastic. He pulled it out and hanging by a string was a mini Millennial Falcon. 

"You can hang it up on the ceiling." Mike explained. "So it'll look like it's flying."

Will liked it. "Thanks, it's cool." The he was struck with a idea. "Hey I can put some of the star stickers on the ceiling too!" He chirped. "So it'll look like it's actually in another galaxy."

They agreed happily and urged him to look in the bag somemore. Keeping with the Star Wars theme was a pack of pencils that looked like lightsabers. 

"This is so cool!" Will exclaimed. "We can have battles in class."

Joyce rolled her eyes. "Just don't hit another hit with your swords." 

"They're actually called lightsabers, Ms Byers." Dustin corrected her. She rolled her eyes again. "Not much of a difference it there Dustin." He would have argued, but she had that mischievous mom look in her eye that said should would win no matter what. 

"Right, Ms Byers, right." He turned back to his friend pulling the last thing out the box. It was a framed picture, of all of them, the whole party, crowding around Will the night El came back. Once everyone was at home safely, all the kids hugged and surrounded Will on his bed. Jonathan had decided to get a candid moment of it. He smiled and looked around at his friends. 

"Personally," Max began. "I think that's the best gift of them all."

Will nodded looking down at the picture. El still looked like a punk, Will looked weak and hurt, and Max and the guys all had tear stained cheeks. But it was a great picture and one of Will's great memories. Though he felt like shit, he felt so happy in that moment. 

"Beats the quarters?" El asked. 

"Yeah." Will croaked out weakly. "Definitely."

"Okay, shit for brains, enough mushy stuff, let's watch Ghostbusters before Hop gets here."

They all gathered around the television as Joyce made popcorn and Jonathan popped the tape in.

As Will ate the popcorn and sang the theme with his friends he knew this was his greatest birthday yet.


	3. kids just wanna fight

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Hopper's called down to the school for the first time

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> btw, all the oneshots take place in the same universe and El gets to leave the cabin early and attend school with the party

Hopper sighed as he rode down to the Hawkins Middle. He blew smoke into the air and speed up. He had been in his office, talking to one of John Actac, he was a man who lived out in the woods near Benny's old diner. He wanted to complain about the amount of teenagers hanging around the abandoned diner. Flo called him to her desk calling out that someone had called from the middle school. When he was told to come down and pick up El he didn't even ask why, just promised John he would check it out and was out the door.

 He went over the possibilities of what could be wrong with her as he approached the school, he vaguely wondered if her friends had anything to do with it. He stepped out the car and threw the cigarette to the ground before walking up to the school. He made his way to the office, looking around the halls and wondering if it was actually this small when he went here as a kid.

 Outside the principal's office on a couple of chairs was a group of four kids. Four kids he recognized. He immediately knew something was wrong, if more then two of these kids were involved in something, it was usually bad. The Wheeler kid was holding a rag up to his lip, which seemingly busted open. He looked pretty roughed up, his hair was wilder the usual and he looked upset. Next to him was a pissed ginger. Her cheek was bright red and angery red lines marked the same cheek. The others boys were on a different set of chairs. Sinclair was looking equally as pissed as Red was, his head was back a little and his jeans had grass stains on them, and he was rubbing his arm. The boy with curls similar to El's rested his head on the other boys shoulder rubbing at his scalp. He noticed his girl and Will were missing. He pinched the bridge of his nose as he approached the group.

 As soon as they saw him they erupted all at once.

 "It wasn't her fault!"

 "Those jackasses has it coming!"

 "You better go easy on her old man!"

 "Don't yell at her!"

 He rubbed at him temple. "Shut up, damn it!" Loyal little shits. Always trying to protect El, they should knew they never have to protect her from him.

 "She didn't even use-" Mike began, but Hopper has already walked into the office without giving him a final thought. The secretary at the desk took one look at him and pointed toward the principal's office. He gave the secretary a nod and made his way toward the door.

 He saw Mr Coleman eyeing Eleven who was in a chair on the other side of his desk. They both turned toward him when he let himself in. El held a tissue up to her nose. A nosebleed. He sat next to her on the opposite chair.  

"Chief." Mr Coleman greeted him.

 "Yeah, hey Russell." He said preoccupied with giving El a glare because she wouldn't meet his eyes.

 "I know you may already know what went on with Jane and her friends here." He presumed.

 Giving Eleven one last glare he nodded him. "Yeah, although I hope I'm wrong."

 "Would you like to tell your father what happened today, Jane?" Mr Coleman asked her.

 She rolled her eyes and took the tissues away from her face. "Got into a fight." It was the first time she fully looked at Hop. On her cheek she had similar scratch marks on her face to the girl outside. Her forehead had a growing bump and he noticed her nose was bruised slightly.

 "Yes, and may I say, I'm very disappointed, in all of you, six against three, unfair." The principal claimed.

 "Five." She correct him. "Will didn't fight. And they had rocks."

 He sighed and rubbed at his temples. "Despite this information, three days suspension is required to give to all students who participate in a fight." He gave her a pointed look. "Even Will."

 "Bullshit." She fought.

 "Young lady!" Hopper shouted. "Okay, thats enough, come on, we're leaving."

 She let the tissues fall to the ground as she grabbed her bag and stormed out the office.

 "Don't take it to hard Chief," he patted him on the back. "They're hard at this age."

 Hopper nodded and talked out the office. "Bye Russell."

 "Take care Jim"

____

When he walked out he saw El talking to Will, who seemed to be straight out of the nurses office. He had a black eye, bleeding nose, and he held an ice pack to his forehead. But he and El were laughing like they didn't just get into it with some asshole kids. The nurse beckoned for him to come over, so he went passed the kids and walked into her office.

 "Hey Jim." She greeted. "Listen, I called Joyce, but she's still working, so she asked me to ask you if you can take Will home."

 He nodded. "Yeah, sure, take care Carly."

 She gave him a playful shove. "Always do Chief."

 He called out for the kids and they came romping toward the door. As they walked away from the office doors their friends called out bye to them. They turned to wave and bounced out of the school doors.

 Eleven immediately went toward the back. He rolled his eyes and opened the passenger seat door for Will. Once they were all in the car setting off toward the Byers resident he demanded answers from them.

 "So any of you want to tell me why the hell you and the rest of the garage band got into it?" He asked.

 Will turned to look out the window and no answer came from Eleven. 

 "Tell me." He damanded looking at Eleven through the mirror.

 "Two boys." She said. "One girl, threw rocks."

 Will sighed, but Hopper still demanded more information. "So you used your powers thats it, cause they threw some rocks?" He was starting to get pissed off.

 Will came back to earth immediately defending her. "No, she didn't, she's bleeding cause she got punched in the nose by Marie Corshe."

 "They said freak." El croaked out. "Called Will queer, a fairly, a fag."

 Hop casted a look at Will and saw him squeeze his eyes shut.

 "What's a queer, Hop?"

 He didn't answer but instead stopped the car in the middle of the road and turned toward Will.

 "They do this often?"

 Will didn't answer he just squeezed his eyes more and turned away from Hopper.

 "Not the rocks." Eleven informed him.

 "Listen kid, screw those kids, okay?" Hop told him. "Some people are just dumbasses okay, but if they ever screw with you guys like that again beat their asses. Again."

 He started the car again and took off in the direction of his cabin instead of Will's house. He figured he could keep him there for a few hours before Joyce got home.

 Will laughed. "You should've seen El, she was amazing."

 "So was Lucas." Eleven giggled. "Kicked Troy, in the face."

 "I think Max might've broke her arm."

 "I wish."

 The kids were laughing and it was infectious, they got him laughing with them as well.

 "Did you ever get in any fights Chief?" Will questioned.

 He chuckled and nodded. "Yeah, me and your mother both, she could punch like a golden glove winner."

 "Really?"

 "Oh yeah, she fought anybody, once she kicked one of my girlfriend's ass." He reminiscented, laughing slightly.

 "Why?" El asked.

 "I never found out actually, but one good thing came out of it." He smiled remembering Joyce giving him a kiss when he went to check on her instead of Natalia. Eighth grade was definitely one of the best years to be in school.

 "What was it?" Will asked.

 "Huh?"

 "What good came out of it?"

 "Nothing you need to know about."

 They pulled up to the endroad and got out the car, heading in the direction of the cabin. They ate eggos for lunch, and read through Will's comic books. Will even taught Eleven how to draw a flower. She drew one for Hopper, Will, and Mike. Then she watched Will draw, they traded the walkman every song or two.

 Hopper saw something he had only seen a few times with these kids, happiness. Eleven whispered stuff into his ears and they would laugh for mintues about that one thing. Hopper remembers being this happy as a kids, breaking rules and laughing with his stupid friends. He wanted all these kids and the others to have that. He wanted his girl to have that.

____

Joyce came by and frantically checked on Will.

 "Oh my, are you okay, did you get ice on that eye, honey?"

 He laughed. "Yeah mom, I'm fine."

 After fussing over Will for a few mintues and getting him ready to go she approached Hopper and smiled.

 "Remember when we used to fight like that?" She laughed.

 "All the time." He laughed along with her.

 "Took us a few fights to get it but when we did, we couldn't stop."

" No," he remembered different. " _You_ couldn't stop."

She laughed and shoved Jim playfully. "Don't go to hard on her Hop, she's just girl, and she just wants to protect those boys."

He nodded. "Alright, I know, see ya Joyce."

She waved and Will did the same to El.

"See you later El!"

"Bye Will!"

Yeah, it took awhile, but he had it good. He had it real good.


	4. soul sister

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Eleven and Max sneak out for a joyride and some late night bonding

Eleven liked to read at night best, during the day she would go to school, and watch television. Night was when she wasn't preoccupied with her friends or school work. It was all silent in the cabin and nighttime felt warm and safe. It was the weekend, and during the weekend her curfew was extended to 10:30, but she didn't have a bedtime during the weekend. Of course Hopper preferred her to be asleep by midnight but sometimes she just couldn't put her book down. 

When she heard thumps at her window it made her jump and the book fall out of her hands. She sighed, rolling her eyes, she hadn't remembered what page she was on. She made her way out of bed, to the window, and moved the curtain aside so she could see who it was. She saw a red bush of hair and the window unlocked, flinging open at the nod her her head. 

"Hey El," Max whispered. "Get your jacket, lets go."

This had become an occurrence with her friends, mostly Mike, Max, or Will, they would come knocking at her window at ungodly hours and sneak her out. It wasn't hard, Hopper was a heavy sleeper and all she had to do was lock her door, then if he did wake up he knew she didn't want to be disturbed. 

She snatched up her jacket from her desk chair, slipped on her shoes then hoisted herself out the window. Her jacket didn't really feel needed at this point, the weather was just beginning to warm, but she liked it anyway. It was black, and sort of hard on the outside and it made her fell bitchin'. Little patches of snow also still covered the ground so it only felt appropriate to still wear jackets, Max wore one all the time. 

"Come on!" Max ushered her. "And don't bring your bike, we gotta different ride tonight."

El didn't ask her what meant by that, but she would have plenty of time to ask her on the walk down to the rode. They still lived in the cabin, but Hopper promised her they'd get a house this summer, or next fall at best. For now the cabin did just fine, it was her first real home, she would cherish it even long after they moved out. 

"What's our ride?" She asked as she ducked a tree branch. 

"You'll see, I dunno how much you're going to like it, but I think it's pretty cool." She sounded excited so El decided even if she didn't like it she'd pretend for her. 

After five minutes of tumbling over tree branches and mutters about bringing a flashlight next time, they were at the dirt rode. Next to Hopper's car was a smaller blue car. She heard the jingle of keys and looked over at Max to see her dangling a set of keys from her fingers. 

"Like I said," she stated confidently. "We gotta different ride tonight."  
____

Strangely enough Eleven liked the idea of riding in car at night with Max. She smiled and put herself in the passenger seat, Max whooped and got in the driver's seat. From what the boys had told her, Max wasn't half bad at driving, so she felt comfortable despite the fact knowing kids couldn't drive. Or at least they shouldn't, because Max could, pretty damn fast. As Max zoomed down the dirt road, swerving the car sometimes, she told her Billy was out like a light, which was apparently a metaphor, though she had no idea what that was she saved the question for later. 

"Me and a few of these bitches I used to be friends with used to steal cars all the time," she raved. "That's how I leaned to drive, so take notes." She reached over and turned up the radio. El rolled down the windows all the way, she loved the way the night breeze felt on her face, the music and Max's rambunctious spouts made it a whole lot better. 

"You're lucky you live on the outskirt of the town." Max said. "You live really close to the quarry, and that's where we're heading." She sped up swerving a few times but El didn't have to worry, she didn't do that a lot anymore.   
____

Eleven had been to quarry before. She saved Mike from those mouth breathers, but Max calls them assholes and she wonders if she should too. Max parked the car close enough for the girls to hear the music. They sat on the ledge of a rock, their feet didn't even begin to touch the quarry's water, but they weren't as high up as Mike had been when he made the jump. El got a little scared on the way up to the quarry, Max swerved a lot and the road to the quarry was right next to the water below. She was afraid Max would drop them in the water. When El voiced her thoughts Max laughed and swerved some more. She didn't hate it though. She laughed as well and she felt something then. She wasn't sure what though. It was a fresh feeling, like getting out the shower when it was really cold. Except she felt it inside, all over her body. 

"When summer comes maybe Hop will get you come down the quarry and swim with us." Max offered nodding her head along to the music.

"Don't know how." Eleven informed her. 

"We'll teach you." She said. "Mike never seen a girl in bathing suit before, he'll go crazy."

Eleven thought of teasing her about Lucas but decided against it, she looked like El was feeling, fresh, from the inside. 

"Feel fresh?" She asked. 

"What, is it too cold?" Max questioned. "Want my coat?"

Eleven shook her head. "No, inside, fell fresh inside." She stopped for a bit before adding. "You look happy."

"Oh," Max thought for a bit. "Oh, you mean I look alive?" 

"But you are alive?"

Max laughed, shaking her head. "No, feeling alive means you feel more then happy, you feel like you could fly, or run a mile."

"More then happy?" She asked. 

"Yes," Max confirmed. "From the inside."   
____

They hung around for a bit, throwing rocks into the water and dancing along to the songs blaring from the radio. Max went back to the car to grab soda for the girls to drink, but she came out with an extra item. 

"Cigarettes." She said tapping the small box. "Ever had one before?"

El shook her head, she's never had one but she sees Hopper smoke all the time. She knows he tries not to do it in front of her, but he makes mistakes. She doesn't mind much though, except for the smell. 

"Me either, wanna try?" She asked mischievously. "Only this once, we can share one, so it'll be less."

She skeptically looked at the little box, Hopper had never talked to her about them before, but she knew they were bad for you. She remembers the tv. Smoking tobacco could cost you. What exactly, she didn't know. But that's why she was always worried about Hopper, she would talk to him about his problem later though. Now she eyes the box with unease.

"You don't have to." Max quickly informed her. "I don't wanna pressure you into anything."

El nodded though, she liked trying new things and if this was Max's first it could be hers to. 

"You sure?" She nodded as Max sat next to her. "I don't know how bad it'll be though, so open your Coke."

The snap of the soda can made her jump, Max laughed and so did she. The car headlights provided them light so she could see her friend take out the small stick like object and light the end on fire. 

"I'll go first, then you can decide if you wanna do it or not." Max had a moment of hesitance before placing it between her teeth and inhaling. She doubled over coughing. The cigarette fell from her hand, El picked it up and placed it between her lips as her friend downed her soda. 

"That was the worst experience ever seriously El don't." 

But she already decided if Max almost had a heart attack she could almost have one too. She inhaled quickly, immediately regretting not listening to Max. Felt like her lungs were on fire and it tasted disgusting. Eleven felt her pat her on the back and hand her a soda can. She gasped for breath and took the can out of her friends hand gulping down the drink. She threw the cigarette into the water beneath them relaxing into the gravel under her. 

"Never again," Max said letting out a raspy laugh. 

"Yeah." El said laying down on the rock. "Never again."  
____

When it began to get light outside Max drove El back home before Hop and her brother woke up. She sprayed down El with some some car freshener so she didn't smell like cigarettes and more like pine trees. They mellowed out, both tired and throats aching. The music played low and they talked about the way people would have turned their heads if they saw two kids riding through town. 

"I'd get my ass beat." Max said, but she laughed and El decided it was okay if she laughed too. She also decided Max was her second best. Mike would always be her first. 

"You're one of my bests." She informed her as Max messily stopped the car at the end of the dirt road. 

Max smiled at her. "You're one of my best too, I don't have many, so you better feel lucky." 

"What about the bitches in California?" She asked. 

Max howled with laughter and El had not the slightest idea why, that's want Max has always called them. 

"No, they took away too many of my first, like driving, so I'm glad I had my first cigarette with you."

El scrunched up her nose. "I'm not, disgusting." But she smiled at Max anyway. "But I'm all the way happy."

"From the inside?" Max teased. 

"And the outside."

Max's face soften. "I'm glad we're friends, loser."

"Me too," El added. "Loser."

Eleven got out the car, waved at Max one last time, she'd do anything with her friends truthfully. But Max was special, and not just because she was a girl. Because even if El was like the bitches from California Max still tried. Eleven smiled. And Max made her feel something, not like Mike did, something different she made her feel rebellious, like she could fly, and made her feel alive. So she liked Max, because she wasn't a bitch, was bitchin'.


	5. Jolly Holly

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Mike and El babysit Holly

Mike cherished the days he could have El all to himself. They were always hanging out with the guys and Max, so it was nice when it was just the two of them. 

Of course, homework had to be done first. 

Even though they had long stopped being El's personal teachers, she still struggled a lot in math. 

And Mike was ever so helpful. 

"Okay, so the pythagorean theorem is..." 

"A squared, plus B squared, equals C squared." She recited.

"Okay, good, now all we need to do is incorporate that into numbers."

El nodded absentmindedly. "Numbers."

Mike sighed. He'd learned long ago that El wasn't one to pay that good of attention. Especially if she didn't find something interesting. She wasn't one for rules either, but somehow, that did surprise him. 

"Come on El," he pleaded. "It's easy, just pay attention." 

She smiled sweetly at him and nodded. The text book on the table flew open to the correct page and she began to read the ways of the pythagorean theorem. 

"Michael" His mother called down. "Come up here!"

"I'm going!" He called back aggressively. "Just try and work on these problems."

He stopped up the stairs to meet his mother in the kitchen. She was serving Holly some milk to go with her cookies. 

"What?" He asked, clearly annoyed. 

"Oh, listen, I need you to babysit Holly." She turned to him. 

"Mom," he complained. "I'm with El right now."

"Good, then she can help." She said sternly, her hands on her hips, giving him a glare. 

He sighed. That meant the argument was final and there was no room for his excuses. 

"Fine, when do you leave?" 

"Right now, let me get my keys." 

While she got ready he went to go get El from downstairs. He explained the concept of babysitting to her. She seemed to understand and even made a comparison. 

"Like Steve, he babysits us."

Mike nodded. "Yeah sorry of."

Before his mom left she called him over. 

"If everything goes well, I'll consider letting the girls stay over for your next sleep over." 

Mike tried not to act to excited about it, but he really was. His mother never let the girls stay over. He didn't know why, it wasn't like they were all gonna make out in front of one another. 

None of the other parents seemed to mind. Max's never cared about anything, as long as they though she was safe. Dustin's mom let him do whatever he wants, Lucas' parents live near by, and he knew Ms Byers would be okay with it. 

"Okay." He said. "That seems fair."

She gave him a pointed look and was out the door.   
____

It was easy at first. Holly was a good kid, all she did was sit and play with her dolls. She hardly ever talked too. 

When Mike first heard his mom was pregnant and found out it was a girl, he dreaded it. 

This would mean he was the only boy in the family. Which did not sound pleasant. But, also, when he would go over to Lucas' house Erica was always so annoying. But, he was pleased to see that Holly was a quite and sweet little girl. 

He just never had to watch her before. 

Holly was also very interested in El. 

"Wanna play?" She asked El, handing her a doll. 

"I don't know how." El said sheepishly. 

Holly seemed to consider this, which Mike found hilarious. She put her finger to her chin and hummed to herself. 

"Like this." Holly took the doll out of El's and hand and made her talk to the other doll. 

"Ted is so unhelpful." She made the blonde doll say. 

The she made the other doll say. "Its okay honey." 

Mike gave his sister a look. "Where did you hear that." 

"It's what Mommy tells Ms Cabacski." She said innocently. 

"More like Ms Ca-bitch-ski." He muttered. 

El heard and laughed slightly. 

"So will you play with me?" She asked El. 

El agreed and they spent the next ten minutes complaining about various husband's in the area. 

"I can't believe he would say that!" Holly said, appalled. 

"He never pays attention to me." El complained. 

Mike found it quite amusing. Neither of the girls had no idea what they were talking about but they'd heard enough gossip and soap operas that they knew just what to say. 

"I know just who too got for." 

"He didn't join us for dinner again last night."

It was going suspiciously smooth. Mike knew there would be a hard. 

He just didn't expect it would be this hard. 

"I gotta go bathroom." Holly said. 

Mike told her to along. He could finally have some time with El. 

"Your sisters nice." She said longingly.

Mike smiled. "She's your sister too," he took her hand. "You're family, El." 

She grinned at him. "You're my family too." 

They slowly began to lean in, but before they could touch lips, they heard small sobs coming from up stairs. 

They both have each other a look and raced upstairs. Mike's mother would not be happy if something happened to Holly on his watch. 

They walked in on her in the bathroom room. She was on the floor, rubbing her eyes. 

"I couldn't get them off." She sobbed. 

Mike looked down to see she had a wet spot on the leg of her overalls. 

Oh shit. 

"Um, it's okay Holly, don't cry." His mind raced of ideas what to do. 

"We should probably get you out of those." He scratched the back of his neck awkwardly. "You'll also need a bath." 

He did not want to give his little sister a bath. He gave El a look and pulled her aside. 

"You wouldn't mind giving her a bath, would you?" He asked. 

She looked at him puzzled. "Why can't she do it?"

"Well, she's small, and she can't swim, or anything, so someone needs to help her." He explained. 

"And I can't, because I'm a boy." He quickly added. 

El said she would do it. Mike told her how, and he said he would be right outside the bathroom door if she need him. 

"Use this soap," he handed her Holly's baby shampoo. "So if some gets in her eyes it doesn't hurt." 

They filled the bath for Holly and took down her hair. When El started to undress her Mike made a get away to his little sisters room to get her some fresh clothes.

Holly's room, was, well, he'd been tell anyone else this, but his little sisters room was really cute. 

Her favorite color was yellow, surprisingly. So naturally everything in her room had to be yellow. Her small canopy bed. Her walls, her small tea set, along with her small bean bag chair. 

Going through his sister's drawers were weird. 

He manged to find a yellow skirt and paired that with a white shirt with a pineapple on it. Then he realized his sister didn't wear diapers anymore. 

It didn't feel right going through little girls underwear but he need too. He just went for the first pair he saw, not bothering to check if they were even clean if not. 

Holly was already out the bathroom and in her robe by the time he was finished looking through her clothes. 

"I'm done," she announced as she walked in the room. "Get out, El needs to change me." 

"Alright, jeez." He muttered. 

Never had the day come, when he though his sister would prefer his girlfriend over him. 

His ears tinted pink as he though of that. Was El his girlfriend? He'd never asked her, they were gonna be in highschool soon, he needed to get on that. 

His mom chose the right moment to come through the door. She was slightly red and out of breath. He heard the sound of a car engine roar out the drive way. 

"Where's Holly?" She asked. 

"Um, she, kinda..." 

Suddenly she came bounding down the stairs with El in tow.

"Hi honey." His mom greeted her. "Why's her hair wet?" 

Mike sighed and shared a look with El. 

"Never asked me to watch her again." 

"Michael!"  
____

Once they were back down in the basements Mike had formulated a plan to ask El. 

"Okay, back to math." She said. 

"Actually, I thought we could talk." He stammered out. 

She looked at him confused. "About what." 

"Well, we ya know, we um..." she looked even more confused then ever now. 

"We've kissed, and went to the snow ball together, and I already asked you to the spring fling, but I never asked..." 

He looked over at her. Her cheeks were pink, and she was hugging her legs close to her torso. She looked so cute, so soft, with her pretty curls and oversized flannel shirt. 

"I never asked if you wanted to be my girlfriend." He admitted. "And I was just wondering if you, like, wanted to." 

She gave him a small smile, moving closer to him, and looked him in the eye. 

"Yes." She said.

The leaned in and this time no sobbing broke them apart. Her lips were soft as ever, her skin was soft, and her curls tickled his cheeks.

For years he was jealous of Hans Solo for having Princess Leia. 

Now, he couldn't help but think everybody should be jealous of him. Because he had the best girlfriend ever.


End file.
